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Voices Trainnig
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Former Vermont Adult Learning teacher, Gail Babinger,
facilitated a "Voices" ( teacher-led book disussion)
training with Vermont Adult Learning staff. Our teachers received
excellent training in how to lead a book discusion group.
The novel, The
Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson, was one
of the texts discussed. It is also the text for the
2010 Vermont Reads program. Tracing the life of an Albanian
family living in Kosovo in the mid-1990s when the region was rife with
conflict, it follows the family's riveting journey until they
eventually find a home in Barre, VT. Highly
recommended!
For more info about getting your organization involved
in the Vermont Reads program go here.
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December 2009
DOL: Tues. Dec. 01
Please call to pre-register:
If you have new students to refer please see the
"Our Process" info below.
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Classroom Closing for the Holidays
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Classrooms will be closed at our Downtown, Colchester,
and Milton sites for the week of Nov. 23.
They will re-open on Mon. Nov. 30, 2009.
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Just a reminder that Vermont Adult Learning will host
two information sessions (Mon. Nov. 23 & Tues. Nov. 24) for
the Transportation Security Adminstration.
If you know of anyone interested in a career at the
Burlington International Airport as a Transportation Security Officer
please have them call (802) 846-7245 x 100 to register for one of the
two information sessions offered.
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Dear
Heather,
I
can't believe we are already winding down the fall semester and
preparing for winter. We are planning our first-ever January
graduation ceremony to celebrate student  accomplishment
as it is accomplished. All three credential programs - GED, VT
Adult Diploma Program, and the High School Completion Program will
participate as well as graduates from our other partner
projects. Why wait until June?
This fall has been crazy busy with new programs as well as continuing
ones. Thanks to The Tutorial Center in Bennington and the
Nellie Mae Foundation, four local partner agencies piloted a college
prep, in context of health care, program at the Community College of
Vermont (CCV) this term. I'd like to thank the staff at VSAC,
CCV, VAL and the Area Health Education Council (AHEC) for making the
trial run at a new, integrated career and academic approach for adult
learners a success. We look forward to repeating the class next
September after a full evaluation and a few tweaks here and there.
We continued working with the Association of Africans Living in
Vermont (AALV), the VNA, Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, the Vermont
Food Bank, Reach-Up, and the Vermont Department of Labor in providing
academic and work readiness training support in their vocational
programs. The Community Kitchen and Personal Care Attendant
training programs have been a great challenge as well as loads of fun
for the staff associated with the new approach VAL is taking with
adult learners.
Starting in January, VAL will be offering an additional certification
program called Work Keys. This is a national certificate used
as a screening tool by employers throughout the United States.
The Vermont Department of Labor endorses the Work Keys
certificate.
Work Keys measures reading, writing, and reasoning skills in relation
to work situations. There are four levels to master - bronze,
silver, gold, and platinum. We have also installed supplemental
software, Key Train, to give students an appropriate preparation tool
before taking the on-line assessment. Matching a GED or high
school diploma along with a Work Keys certificate and a job portfolio
containing a resume, cover letter, and references gives students the
credentials to get and keep gainful employment. For more
information contact Frank Gerdeman at fgerdeman@vtadultlearning.org or
at 84607245 x 110.
On the employment front, the other big news is our partnership with
the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). They are holding an
information and application workshop on Monday and Tuesday November
23 and 24 at our Learning Center in Colchester. See the flyer
below. From 10-11am, there will be an information session with
TSA employees from the Burlington Airport. Around 11:15,
participants can access our computer lab and begin applying online
for TSA positions until 1pm. Apparently, the application is
somewhat tricky so TSA is giving applicants technical support.
Call Heather at 846-7245 x 100 to register or for more information.
Best wishes for a wonderful end of the year and a joyous new one.
 
Cindy Mills, Regional Manager
Vermont Adult Learning
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Chittenden VAL Center Recognized
 The Chittenden Learning Center was recently
named a recipient of the "Community Partner" Award by
Linking Learning to Life (LLL), a Burlington-based non-profit
that helps connect young adults to post-secondary opportunities in education
and careers.
Through the high school completion program, Vermont Adult Learning
has helped this growing agency expand services to include
out-of-school youth. In addition, this collaborative effort has
provided our high school completion students with an additional layer
of support and instruction in broadening their post-high school
expectations as part of their graduation plans.
For example, more than 20 students have already participated in
approximately 50 college courses in the past two years and several
more have been a part of the work internship program offered by
LLL. These experiences would not have been possible, or
successful, without the committed partnership of the two agencies.
Pictured are Jacqueline Stuart and Ethan Mauer, both HSC Plan Managers, with
the award.
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Welfare
Brat
 On, October 14th, Mary
Childers, the author of the critically acclaimed book Welfare Brat,
presented a workshop and discussion group at the Birchwood Manor
Trailer Park in Milton. Since Mary was raised by a single mom
in a neighborhood that was ravaged by poverty and immersed in the
drug culture, she knows first hand many of the challenges and
obstacles that some of our students have to deal with on a daily
basis. The conversations that ensued as a result of her frank
and honest description of her life were lively and meaningful.
Mary was determined to create a better life for herself and shared
her successes and dreams with all of the participants, including
students from Vermont Adult Learning, Vermont Works for Women, as
well as members of the Vermont Women's Fund, Women With Purpose and
the Milton Family Community Center. Issues related
to poverty, welfare dependence, childhood resilience, the American
work ethic, and a popular culture that values sexuality more than
self esteem were examined, discussed, laughed about and
realized. She related so well to her audience and gave hope to
those who needed it, inspiration to those who recognized it and
recognition to those who lived it. She left everyone with a
desire to be better than before and to keep on dreaming of what can
be, because we can still love our families but don't need to repeat
their mistakes.
Many thanks to The Women With Purpose for their delicious food and to
Charlotte Parot from the Family Center who organized this amazing
event.
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Transition
to College & Careers
VAL teacher Jenny
Gundy is coordinating this new program funded by a Nellie Mae grant
and World Education.
Skill building, computers, career awareness, health care,
"green" jobs,  training programs, get a job...... We hear these
phrases every day from our clients who have so many questions
regarding the skills they need to get a job and keep a job in today's
marketplace.
The focus on this semester-long series of classes has been career
awareness especially in the fields of allied health care and green
jobs (primarily weatherization and renewable energy) as well as
improving basic academic skills. The Chittenden County project team
includes Vermont Adult Learning, CCV, VSAC, and the Champlain Valley
Area Health Education Center (CVAHEC).
After a student has completed the course, they will be ready to
transition to credit-bearing classes at either CCV or another
institution; transition to specific career training programs; or
continue working on basic skills until eligible for credit-bearing
classes and/or achieve a high school diploma.
We are proud
to have been part of this wonderful collaborative team. On
November 13, CVAHEC welcomed two speakers from clinical occupations
to our Health Science class: Steve von Sitas, who is a case manager
supervisor from COTS, and Laurie Perkins, R.N., from Burlington
Health and Rehabilitation. Steve talked with our group about his
experience working in the areas of human services and counseling, and
he gave the students a good sense of his career path. Laurie Perkins
spoke about the personal choice in becoming a nurse.
She also talked about changes in the field of
geriatrics which now includes more rehabilitational nursing. It
was an exciting opportunity for the students to ask questions of
people already in the field.
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